When you’re writing stories, do you ever feel like your characters are coming to life on the page? Do they seem like real people, making decisions you weren’t expecting? Or do you prefer to focus on the things that happen and the challenges they face? The majority of stories have characters – be they human, animal, alien or fantasy beings – and most stories follow a plot or structure of unfolding events.
Children’s author and creative-writing tutor Anna Wilson, from Cornwall in England, feels that good stories should start with you ‘having fun and making a mess’ as you get to know your characters and think about what might happen to them. But if you want other people to enjoy your stories, you also need to think about making them readable for someone who isn’t inside your brain. That’s where creating compelling characters and a gripping plot come in.
Who are your characters?
A good way to understand the importance of characters in stories is to think about the ones from your favourite books or films. Whether it’s Matilda Wormwood, Harry Potter, Black Beauty or Bilbo Baggins, there will be some fictional characters you know so well, you can almost believe you’ve met them.
When creating your own characters, you should be able to picture them vividly and understand how they would react to different situations. You could even create character questionnaires to quiz them. Anna says: ‘It’s about going beyond the surface of eye colour and hair colour. Get really specific. What were they doing at 5.03pm yesterday? Can you describe their teeth? Or their feet? Who is their best friend or worst enemy?’
Even if you don’t include a character’s backstory in your writing, it can be helpful to imagine their family relationships, hobbies, friendships, sense of humour, what worries them and what their dreams are.
What do they want and need?
Stories often follow a character as they go on an inner journey, which involves exploring their own beliefs and finding out about themselves. Again, think about your favourite books or films and consider how the characters change from beginning to end. What have they learned? Anna explains: ‘The key to moving any story along is knowing what the conflict is between what your character wants and what they need.’
Often, these are two different things. They might want better friendships, but need to learn to value themselves and stand up for what they believe in first. Or they might want to win something, but first they need to develop their skills or change their beliefs.
This progression is called a character arc. Author Hayley Milliman, from the US, is director of community at ProWritingAid, an online toolkit of resources for creative writers. She says the story of Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games is a great example of a character arc. ‘Katniss goes through such a strong personal transformation through the story as she faces the different challenges,’ says Hayley.
What happens to the characters?
The plot is the sequence of events that make up a story, as things happen to challenge your character. If you struggle with getting your ideas onto the page, Anna suggests asking yourself if you really know your characters well enough. You could give them more events to experience and obstacles to overcome, so you can see how they behave. ‘I like to use the example of the Pixar story structure, based on a template called the story spine,’ says Anna. ‘Once upon a time… every day… until one day… because of that… because of that… until finally… and ever since then.’
This explains a structure where you begin your story by introducing your characters and showing their normal life, then something happens to them, which is called ‘the inciting incident’. As a result of that, more things happen that increasingly challenge your character, until a climactic incident, where they have a big opportunity for learning and inner growth. The story then ends with a resolution, showing the character’s new normal. Anna says: ‘At the end, the main characters will never be the same again.’
To improve your writing… read!
One of the best ways to learn about how stories work is to read. ‘Reading is an important part of the writing process,’ says Anna, and she always advises writers to read widely. Reading can spark your creativity, and help you think about what works in your favourite stories. Why do you love the characters? What’s so great about the action or intrigue? What have the characters learned by the end? And conversely, if you don’t like a book, think about the reasons why. Do you find it hard to connect with the characters? Are the events of the story not believable in some way?
By re-reading your favourite books and discovering inspiring new authors, you can learn ways to tell the very best stories.
Getting to know your characters
Try interviewing your characters. Ask them this list of 10 questions and see how they behave…
What do you want – what are your dreams and ambitions?
- How do you think other people see you?
- What secret are you keeping from the world?
- What are you most proud of?
- Who are your friends and enemies?
- What did you have for breakfast?
- What do you like to do at bedtime and how well do you sleep?
- What is your relationship with your family like?
- What are you afraid of?
- Where is your favourite place in the whole world?
Visit ProWritingAid at prowritingaid.com or @prowritingaid.insta. Find Anna Wilson on Instagram @acwilsonwriter or Substack acwilsonwriter.substack.com